H2O: Strange Tide Rising
by Eluamous Nailo
Summary: Things were just starting to get back to normal after the passing of Eva's Comet, but that never lasts long with our group of friends. Emma is bringing home a new brother, and old enemies lurk on the horizon. This summer will surely be an interesting one (This is a revised and rebooted version of H2O: On stranger Tides.)
1. New in Town

**CLEO**

The world was safe, school was done, and Lewis was home. For once it seemed like everything was going to be alright. She had just cleaning up her room when a text from Rikki arrived on her phone.

_Everyone's meeting at the cafe for lunch, wanna come? _

She texted back that she would indeed attend and headed out. The sea air was always wonderful, but with everything back in order the world seemed that much brighter to Cleo, then her phone rang.

"Hello."

"Cleo?" it was Emma.

"Emma, What have you been up to?"

"Look, I need your help, something's happened."

Cleo's eyes widened. "What happened, Em?"

"I'm coming home soon and will tell you everything then, but I lost control of my power."

"Emma. It's ok, I'll tell everyone you're coming back and we'll fix this."

"Alright, I'm getting on a plane in the morning, but my brother already left."

"Your mum let Elliot come back on his own?" Cleo was surprised, Last she remembered Elliot had ben young and had a crush on Rikki, nowhere near ready to fly by himself.

"No, no, my adopted brother, His name is Takura. I met him in Japan, and my parents ended up adopting him, anyway, he's coming back and getting the house ready for us."

"You're coming back, like to stay?"

"Unfortunately yes, we have to cut our trip short because of the incident."

Cleo's jaw hit the floor as Emma's words hit her.

"Emma, you're coming back, that's great!"

"Yeah, I'm happy to be coming home, but I wish it weren't to tell you all of this bad news."

"It will all work out once all of us are together again." Cleo reassured,

"Of course it will. It always seems to."

"Alright, Emma, I'll tell everyone you're coming, bye."

"I'll be home soon, bye Cleo."

Cleo hung up her phone and picked up her pace to the Cafe, Hopefully Lewis and Rikki wouldn't be too put off by this turn of events.

* * *

**RIKKI**

The message went through. Lewis was looking at her expectantly, so she nodded at him. He smiled and turned to look at Bella. He chuckled softly, causing Rikki to cast him a look

"I wonder if they will let me play with them again, just once."

Rikki smiled, turning to watch the rehearsal. "They might, I'll ask Bella after the rehearsal. She wrote a song about us you know, they'll be playing it tonight."

That made Lewis smile a little. Rikki looked over to Zane, and caught him staring back at her.

"He's still obsessed with me you know."

"Is he? Well, you two were close enough for him to name this place after you."

"Yeah, but it's been over for a while now. He should move on, God knows I'm trying." She indeed had been trying, but forgetting everything they had shared for the past several months wasn't easy. There were so many good things to remember, but then he had kissed Sophie on the docks, and that was unforgivable.

Lewis sighed "I miss you three when I'm gone, more than anything, especially Cleo."

Rikki punched his arm lightly. "Of course you miss her, you're in love with her."

Lewis nodded thoughtfully "Yeah, yeah I am, and it's the best thing ever."

Cleo walked in and sat down, her neutral expression immediately arousing suspicion in the other two.

"What's going on, Cleo? You don't seem like your usual self." Lewis asked, concerned.

"Emma's coming back," Cleo Informed the group, "and she has a new brother." Cleo ran the group through the content of her phone call, making the finer points clear as best she could.

"Emma's always been able to figure a way out of tough situations, she'll be able to figure this one out too." Rikki reassured her friend. "Look, Emma going to be back sometime within the next couple of days and she'll let us know more. until then we'll have to wait for her brother to arrive."

The band took a break, and Bella walked over to their table, sipping water from a bottle. "Hey everyone, what's going on?"

"Our friend Emma is coming back in a couple of days. She's our other mermaid friend who went on a trip with her family."

Bella nodded, pausing to check her ringing phone. "It's Will, I'll tell him to meet us here." Bella stepped away and answered her phone.

Rikki Looked up as a guy She didn't recognize walked into the cafe. Rikki smiled at him, taking stock of his deep black hair. Nikki thought he looked a little handsome, albeit a little out of style in his black tank top and cargo shorts. As the boy turned and looked around the café, Rikki noticed a symbol printed on the back of his shirt, next thing she knew, Cleo was across the room talking to him. Rikki saw Cleo motioning for her to follow, so she did, leaving a very confused Lewis in their wake.

Cleo spoke first, "Are you Takura? Emma mentioned you when she called today."

The boy looked up at the two, and lightly blushed when he saw Rikki "I am indeed, and your'e Cleo?"

"Yes, and this is Rikki."

"Rikki? The namesake of this café?"

"That I am, though I am not connected with it anymore." Rikki piped up finally, sounding a bit nervous, unusual for her.

"So, Emma probably filled you in on the big picture, but there are a few more details for me to give. Emma and I were in Los Angeles two weeks ago, and she and I went to a club in the city. Everything went well until we made our way home. Emma and I were ambushed by some thugs."

Rikki nodded. "Ok, what happened?"

"She and I were trying to fight them off. I was doing alright thanks to my martial arts training, Emma though, She wasn't doing so well. Eventually she panicked, bringing up her hand and freezing the man. The way he was standing he ended up falling over, shattering into quite a few small pieces."

Rikki and Cleo couldn't believe their ears. To hear this guy tell it, it seemed like Emma had killed a man.

"We left the city that night, heading for San Francisco. We made it, then I bought a ticket back here, Emma had to get a ticket on the next plane, with our parents and Elliot still in the states."

"Well, we'll have to deal with that as soon as she gets back."

"That's not the wort of it. She and I also had an unfortunate visit with a marine biologist at the aquarium in Portland. She was certainly surprised to see Emma, but was happy to inform us that she planned on returning to Gold Coast to study."

Cleo stopped him. "You don't mean Dr. Denman do you?"

Takura let out a light sigh. "I'm afraid I do."


	2. Here to Stay

**Lewis**

Sitting at the table alone, Lewis wondered what kept Zane after Rikki this whole time. Even now Lewis could see him, green with envy as Cleo and Rikki were talking with the new guy, who was now walking back with them.

"Lewis, this is Takura, Emma's newly adopted brother." Cleo was talking quickly, excited about the new friend, when Lewis' phone started to ring, he pulled it out of his pocket and answered.

"Lewis, this is Mr. Dunbar, I know your on a break right now, but we have an assignment for you," Lewis waited for his professor to give him the details "There's a marine biologist heading to Gold Coast. Instead of coming back, we have asked her to allow you to join her research team. She was delighted to have you, and working with her will keep you in Australia for an additional two months."

"That's great sir, when will she arrive?" Lewis was still winding down from the shock of getting to stay that he failed to pick up on the subtleties of the conversation.

"She arrives next week. her name is Dr. Denman, and she said you two had met before."

Lewis' eyes widened, but he didn't let his emotions show over the phone.

"Yes sir, I'll be ready when she arrives."

With that the professor hung up and Lewis released his withheld fear. Cleo saw the reaction and immediately asked what was wrong.

"I just got assigned to do a fish study with a famous marine biologist, it's going to last at least two months."

Cleo smiled at that, but she noticed Lewis was still frowning, and again asked him what the problem was.

"The marine biologist I'm working with is none other than our old friend Dr. Denman."

Rikki and Takura had been silent the whole time, but Rikki piped up at the sound of their nemesis' name.

"You're telling us you have to spend the next two months working with Denman…"

Lewis just sighed. He had just got home, and been given the opportunity to stay, but he would be working with Denman. She was the reason he had gotten into marine biology in the first place. but then again, she had kidnapped him, held him on her boat, and then almost turned his friends into research specimens.

"I have to go, I'll be back later." Lewis got up and left, leaving Cleo, Rikki and Takura all sitting at the table wondering what to do about Denman.

* * *

**WILL**

Will had spent the past few hours cleaning up his sister's mess. The moon cave took some substantial damage from that laser that Ryan had used to cut into the wall. After moving all of the rock, he put the bigger crystals back into the hole. Will didn't have a good way to cover the hole, so he put a tarp beneath it, in case any of them fell out while he was gone.

He had called Bella before he arrived, she was in the middle of a rehearsal, so he spent some time sitting on the side of the moon pool, thinking. His girlfriend was a mermaid. It was still hard for him to imagine sometimes, but Will liked it. Bella loved swimming as much as he did, and when they were together Will's heart swelled with joy. It was nice, and Will loved it, but he wished he could share this power the three had.

He checked the time on his phone and decided to head back to the mainland. He needed to get cleaned up for the show, and by now Bella had probably long since finished rehearsal. He jumped into the moon pool and swam outside, popping up in the waves. He quickly swam to the beach, pulling his boat into the water and speeding toward the mainland.

* * *

**ZANE**

Zane sat in his office looking over the turnings for the last three months, it was better than it had been, but it was still barely enough to keep the business afloat. The other thing that was weighing more on Zane's mind though was that new guy who seemed to take a fancy to Rikki. Zane got upset at that, Rikki had always been his girl, sure he messed up once or twice, but didn't everyone? The fact that Rikki really meant it this time scared him. He hadn't even been kissing Sophie, she kissed him. But Rikki didn't see that.

"It figures." he muttered to himself. Zane made a decision then, to Win Rikki back, before this guy could get his hands on her and take her away for good.


	3. A friendly Tail

**TAKURA**

Takura got up and followed Lewis, all of the last few minutes had taken its toll on the boy. He couldn't take the stress. He hadn't taken more than a few steps out of the cafe when Lewis turned to face him.

"You seem about as stressed as I am, care to explain?" Lewis asked his new friend.

"Explain what?"

"You know a lot more than you're letting on." Lewis was getting suspicious now, so Takura sighed and began to explain.

"I know about the girls, Emma, Cleo, and Rikki." he offered

The shock on Lewis' face was evident, so Takura kept talking.

"Emma told me the story, after I found her in the water."

"I wonder why she didn't tell Cleo when she called." was all Lewis could think to say, Takura, however, had a good reason to offer.

"She said Rikki would be upset." Takura told Lewis, who scratched his head.

"Fair Enough." Lewis sighed, "I'm going fishing, care to join me. There's nothing like a little Gold Coast fishing to take your mind off things."

"No thanks," Takura replied. "There's a little cave on Mako Island I have been just dying to explore."

Takura quickly dove into the water. He felt his body change as the new environment worked its magic on him. The boy quickly swam out of the harbor in the direction of Mako island.

Hopefully the island will be remote enough that no one will come around for a while, I need to see if it has the same structure as the one back home. Takura thought in silence as his body cut through the water at incredible speed.

Takura loved his tail, the sight of it made him realize just how unique he was, there were three, maybe four people like him in the world, and that was fine with him.

* * *

**WILL**

Will walked into the café, eagerly greeted by Bella and the others. Bella headed outside, confusing him, but he followed along. He looked up and saw Lewis sitting on the dock looking out at the harbor.

"What's going on, Lewis? You seem upset."

"Takura said something about looking at the cave on Mako Island."

"What did he say?" Cleo asked, walking up and sitting next to Lewis.

"He wanted to explore the remote cave on Mako Island. The one connected to the sea." Cleo, Bella, and Rikki looked at each other, each thinking, until Rikki spoke.

"Could he be one of us?" Rikki asked, a strange, hopeful, tone to her voice.

"He swam off, faster than anything I've ever seen, and I've watched the three of you swim." Lewis stood up, "He was headed towards Mako, and at that speed, it's possible he's already there."

The next sound Lewis and Will heard was the three girls' splash as they hit the water and swam off.

"Are we going with them?" Lewis asked Will as he stood up.

"I don't think we were invited." Will replied. "Besides, I spent the last few hours cleaning the place up, I'm not going back for a while."

Will turned and walked into the café, ordered a smoothie, and sat down. Bella headed off awfully fast. Will hoped she hadn't forgotten that they planned to have a light dinner before her show. Will sighed, Being the boyfriend of a mermaid was a bit more challenging than he thought at first.

* * *

**EMMA**

Emma made her way to the airport terminal. Her plane wasn't set to leave for a few hours, but she needed time away from her family. They still didn't know about her secret, so when Emma and Takura had them leave Los Angeles the morning after the party, there was a flurry of half answered questions. Emma didn't worry about it now because it didn't matter. Her parents were taking Elliot to see Seattle, and she was on her way back home. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Elliot.

_Thanks for covering for me when we got to the hotel. Remember, that secret I shared with you can only be revealed if our lives depend on it. If certain people find out about it I will spend the rest of my life locked up in some lab somewhere._

It didn't take long for her little brother to respond

_You got it, sis, and it's no problem. Im actually impressed that you kept something like this a secret for the last three years. Either way, your tail is safe with me._

_Thanks, Elliot. You are the best._

_Don't push it, sis._

* * *

**BELLA**

Bella's tail propelled her through the water with fury. This new boy shows up and just so happens to sprout a tail just like her group of friends. Bella didn't know what she would do if the boy did have powers, and didn't really look forward to finding out.

The three girls pulled their bodies onto the south beach, with Rikki using her heat to dry them off. With their land legs back underneath them, they began the hike up Mako Hill.

"I understand that we don't want to be spotted, but if he does have a tail, then what does it matter?" Cleo asked as they made the climb to the crack in the rocks that led to the moon cave.

"It's not a problem if he does have a tail. The problem is if he doesn't. We don't want to have to explain to him why we're adorned with tails and scaly bras." Rikki explained. "though I feel like the scaly bras might be a little easier to explain."

The three walked the rest of the way in relative silence, reaching the hole in the rock and sliding down slowly, revealing Takura. His deep, black tail was hanging out of the pool as Takura floated on his back.

"I don't know what you expected. There was a fair bit of foreshadowing." Takura said in a leisurely voice, opening his eyes to see their stunned faces.

"You act like you've never seen a boy with a tail before." he chuckled and sat up in the water.

"We haven't, actually. I didn't know that boys could get this power."

"I will admit though, your tails have a much better luster than mine. I remember Emma's was the most wonderful bronze color. I guess yours match?"

"They do, which is why I wonder why your tail looks so much different." Bella sat on one of the rocks next to the pool. "I like the color though."

"I don't really know either. Before today my sister was the only other person who had powers."

Cleo stepped forward. "What about you? How did you end up with a tail?"

"There's a cave in Japan, just like this one. I've always loved swimming, and I found the cave after school one day, and I thought it was so amazing that I stayed through the day. That night happened to be a full moon, so when I dove in to leave the magic gave me my tail. It was a wonderful end to my 13th birthday."

Rikki finally stepped up "Do you have power over water?"

"I do, but using it while I'm all wet can be risky. " Takura said as he pulled himself out of the water.

"I'll dry you off." Rikki heated up Takura's tail, drying it until it disappeared. He climbed to his feet and turned to face the moon pool

"Watch this." Takura lifted his hand and started slowly moving his fingers.

The moon pool began to crackle and pop as it began to electrify. Sakura increased his tempo and brought a bolt of electricity from the surface to the cave wall, causing a shower of sparks to scatter through the room.

"I've been honing my power since I learned of it, on a humid day I can send a charge through the air." The dark haired boy lowered his hand and jumped back into the Moon Pool.

"The best part is as soon as I lower my hand everything returns to normal, so the water is perfectly safe for swimming. I'm heading home, Emma should be on her plane by now, so I need to get her room ready. Care to join me?"

The three other mermaids jumped in, and the four of them swam off into the sea.


	4. Gleam of power

**ZANE**

Zane was working behind the counter. Ever since the falling out with Sophie and Rikki Zane had found help to be in short supply. There was barely any money to hire anyone else, so even in the middle of the summer he had to take shifts. The morning hadn't been too bad, Bella's rehearsal had brought in a few extra customers, but once the music died down so did his profit margin.

An older man walked in then, wearing a fedora hat and carrying a briefcase. "I'm looking for the owner of this cafe, where might I find him?" He had an interesting accent, but seemed like he was here for more than the tourist attraction.

"I'm the owner, Zane." Zane said, extending his hand, a little embarrassed to be wearing one of the cafe's aprons.

"Hello, Zane. I run a video game theme cocktail bar and lounge in Brisbane, and was looking to open a new location here. Can we talk business?"

"We can." Zane took off the apron and closed the door, flipping the sign to "closed", and sent Will to one of the tables outside. He led the man back to his office and the two began to deal. At the end of everything, Zane had the money he needed to keep running, while his new business partner got his new store.

"The new signs and such will be coming within the next two weeks, until then, make sue everyone knows what's going on."

"All right, sir. I look forward to all of this."

The man headed out, driving away. Zane reopened the cafe and stepped back behind the counter, when Sophie walked in.

"Hey, I saw the place was closed, and wondered if you needed a hand." Sophie's ambition was evident in her words.

"Just had to meet with a potential business partner. No worries."

"Business Partner?"

Zane quickly filled the girl in on the events of the past several hours. The deal, the rebranding, all of it. "So this means we have the money to bring you back on part time, if you wanted." Zane didn't want to make that offer, but he was tired of making smoothies in a cafe that would eventually become a video gaming lounge.

"I'll take it, it's always nice to have work." Sophie smirked, but, Zane, No more romantic stuff between us."

She wasn't going to let it go, Zane was sure, but he nodded anyway, and the two went to his office to fill out the paperwork.

* * *

**TAKURA**

Cleo, Rikki, Bella, and Takura were sitting around the living room talking about nothing when the doorbell rang. Takura went to get it, and invited in his new guest.

"Lewis, how was the fishing?"

"Not so good, I managed to catch a few, but they were too small to keep. How was the Island?"

The two joined the others in the living room, "Lewis I have merman powers too. just so you know."

"I expected as much, but I came here to deliver bad news. I got a call from my new boss, she's slated to arrive in the harbor tomorrow evening, with her research starting on Monday morning."

"Wonderful, everyone should arrive at much the same time then. Emma called and told me she got an earlier flight. She left twelve hours ago."

"That puts her arrival about twelve hours from now, right?" Cleo asked with a bit of anticipation.

"That's right, she's arriving in Brisbane then making her way here by bus. In the meantime though, there's some lore for me to share with everyone."

"Mermaid lore is a specialty of mine." Lewis noted. "What have you got for us?"

"The north side of Mako Island is home to a large population of sharks, as you know, but if you go to the seafloor there's a large stone door. I haven't been through it yet, but it looks to be about the same as the one back in Japan. That one led me to this." He held up his hand to reveal a ring with a large yellow gemstone set inside.

"The Japanese island had a small shrine inside, with this on a pedestal. It amplifies my powers to nearly immeasurable levels."

"And you think there are more behind the door underneath Mako Island." Rikki smiled. rising from her chair. "It's worth investigating, but what about Emma?"

"Emma found hers on display in a museum in the upstate of South Carolina while we were there. We were able to get our hands on it, but we can't go back there."

"What about the moon pool in Ireland, where I got my powers?" Bella questioned. "I haven't been there since I was nine, and back then I didn't even think to look for anything like that."

"Conveniently enough, the exhibit that we were able to successfully liberate Emma's ring from was an Irish collection. The curator thought it was an old Celtic relic, though she admitted it didn't really fit the style of the time."

"I've never heard of any powerful rings in any of my research." Lewis admitted

"That's because they aren't strictly speaking, mermaid lore. There is a legend of a golden boy named Kentoki who was raised by a witch on a mountain. He became a very powerful warrior, so powerful that the mother of all, when he died, broke his spirit into seven pieces and scattered them. I hold his thundering spirit."

"I guess I'll start looking for more information. Give me a call if you need me." Lewis stood and headed out.

"Your temple feels more powerful than the others. Care to come unlock its secrets with me?"


End file.
